Standing on the front porch, Ressler looked out at the scene before him. It was daylight at last, and while still dreary and overcast, it felt bright after the dark afternoon and night they'd gone through. It was still raining, but compared to the deluge they'd had, this was nothing. It was the type of rain he'd previously have got his umbrella out for when dressed in a suit and tie, but today, he couldn't care less how much wetter he got. The door opened behind him, and Liz joined him.
"Okay, I'm ready...whoa..." she said, surveying the scene. It looked like a war zone. Now revealed in the light of day, exploded and shattered trees littered the entire forest. The ground lay under several inches of water in places, unable to drain any more due to the saturation of the soil.
"Are we sure this is a good idea?" she asked him dubiously, rubbing her right knee.
"No, but we have no choice. We can't stay here indefinitely," he replied, looking at her. "What's wrong with your knee?" he asked.
"Oh, I banged it up when I was running to the buildings yesterday afternoon, and it's stiffened up overnight. And speaking of which, why didn't you wake me at 3am?" she asked him.
"Figured you needed your beauty sleep," he smiled, thinking of Red's comment. She just rolled her eyes at that.
He looked back at the outer buildings. "Come on, let's check out those buildings." He'd waited long enough, and was once again antzy to get on the move.
She followed him down the steps now, favoring her knee a little. Stepping into ankle deep water at the bottom of them, she was glad of her hiking boots. Making their way across what used to be the front lawn, their feet slid in the mud several times. Liz almost went down, and Ressler grabbed her arm instinctively, grimacing at the pain that brought him.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Here, I found these for you this morning," she fished something out of her pocket and handed it to him.
He took it from her, seeing that it was a sheet of 6 Codeine tablets for pain. He didn't relish the idea of the side effects though, with the drowsiness they would produce, not when he needed his wits about him. "Thanks, I'll keep them in case I need them," he said, slipping them in his back pocket. She gave him 'the look' again. Of course he needed them.
They reached the larger building and Ressler struggled with the stuck and waterlogged door. Liz was about to open it when he managed it himself with a grunt, trying not to show her how much that hurt. He knew he was failing in that department though.
"Why don't you just take one of those pills?" she asked.
"No."
"Right, because you're fine," she said, exaggerating the word 'fine'.
He ignored her comment. He was fine. Well... almost fine. "Let's see what we have in here," he said, getting back to the job at hand.
They left the door open to let in as much light as possible, and both shone their little flashlights about the place as they looked over the equipment inside. The pickup truck looked decent, but Ressler headed for the tractor mower. It was as he'd hoped, one of those actual tractors with the mower tacked on, almost as an afterthought. He shone his flashlight around the walls, looking for something. And saw it. A heavy duty snow blade - which could move branches out the way just as easily as snow.
"We got chainsaws here. Two of them. Looking for the gas cans now..." Liz called out from the other side of the building. He walked over to see if they were piddly little chainsaws or man-sized ones, and was relieved to see they were the larger ones. Things were looking promising, except they couldn't find any gas cans.
"I'll got check the other building, I know there was a bunch of stuff in there too," she said, and exited the building.
Ressler shone his flashlight up the ladder. He wanted to know what was up there, and gingerly made his way up, his breath catching as he hauled himself up the last step and into the loft. There was a cot in front of him. That would be where Liz and Dembe first saw Liev, he reasoned. There was something under the pillow and he reached down for it. A plain sheet of paper, and as he opened it, it had the names of their task force on it. This was the list that Red had mentioned. The White List? He thought. His stomach lurched when he saw Meera Malik's name crossed out, his mind back in the night club as they'd frantically held their hands against Meera's throat, begging her to hold on. Closing his eyes a moment, he swallowed hard, steadying himself. Harold Coopers name was also crossed out, because these people didn't know Cooper had survived - although Liev did now, thanks to Reddington. He shoved the list in his inside coat pocket and looked around the loft again. There was nothing else of interest, and he slowly made his way back down the ladder.
Liz came back inside a couple of minutes later, all smiles. "There are four gas cans over there, all full."
Things really were looking up. They had enough gas for the chainsaws.
Now all we need are a couple of lumberjacks to wield them and this will be a cake walk, he thought.
###
After stopping in at the cabin to let Dembe know about the tractor and snow blades, they headed back outside, leaving Red guarding Liev and Jeremy. Liz wasn't sure she was too comfortable with that, after seeing his look toward Liev the night before. She told Ressler about it as they walked past their van, heading for the driveway. He didn't like it, but he knew that Red wouldn't actually kill someone in cold blood. The man was capable of doing it, certainly, but he needed a reason to do so. And unless a reason was presented, Ressler was confident Red would just guard them. For now.
They reached the beginning of the driveway, and stopped dead. They could barely see where the drive way had been. Snapped and broken trees were strewn everywhere. They looked at each other silently. Okay, not such a cake walk, Ressler thought ruefully.
"This should be the worst part though," he told her, trying to convince himself as well as her, "as the road is much wider and we will have more room to drive around the trees out there."
"Right…" she replied quietly.
The unmistakable sound of a tractor engine fired up from behind them and they turned, seeing Dembe driving the tractor out of the building. He'd attached the large snow plow on the front, and was heading over toward them. Stepping out of his way in the muddy ground, he slowly approached them. The wide tires of the tractor were handling the sodden ground with no problem, which lifted their spirits somewhat.
He went past them now, nodding to each of them. Lowering the blade, he approached the first tree blocking the driveway. He kept moving slowly, and the tree moved completely out the way, pushed to the side by the snow blade. He proceeded to the next one, and again, it was pushed to the side. The third tree was larger, and was tangled up with a second branch. It moved, but not as completely. Dembe was undeterred. Grabbing a chainsaw he'd stowed on the tractor, he jumped down and fired it up. The roar filled the air as he cut through a narrower section of the tree, as sawdust flew in the morning air.
Ressler watched as Dembe effortlessly cut through the branch. And there's our lumberjack, he thought. This could work after all.
Dembe shut down the chainsaw and turned back to the tractor. He glanced over at Liz and smiled softly at her as he swung back up into the tractor cab. He was actually enjoying this, thought Liz.
###
Forty minutes later, Dembe had cleared the long driveway. Ressler had to admit, he was impressed with the big guy. He'd done it single handed, and hadn't even raised a sweat doing it. He sat calmly on the tractor now, waiting for their little convoy to move out.
Red and Ressler had handcuffed both Liev and Jeremy to the fixed chairs inside their surveillance van. Climbing into the front of the van now, with Liz in the passenger seat, Ressler looked back at the two men. They were keeping the small doorway open, and Liz was turned in her seat, her weapon drawn on them. Not the safest of situations, having a loaded gun cocked and ready in a moving vehicle, but they didn't trust either man. Liev gave her a look that she really didn't care for. Leering disdain is how she'd best describe it.
They were ready, and Dembe pulled out first, in their trail blazing tractor. They followed him in the van, and Ressler's fears that the van would immediately bog down in the mud almost came to fruition. He spun the wheels and reversed, turning a little and finally got some traction on what was left of the gravel driveway. Red followed in his car. Ressler had found it amusing to see Red behind the wheel. He'd never seen the man drive himself anywhere.
They followed the tractor slowly, driving over small saplings and twigs that littered the driveway after Dembe had cleared the larger limbs and branches. They had the added advantage that the tractor tracks had compressed some of the gravel and mud, giving them more traction. A short while later, they reached the end of the driveway and looked at the washed out gully that had formed across the entry to the driveway.
"Here goes…" said Ressler, and guided the van across the gully. The van lurched precariously and for a second or two they thought they were stuck fast, but they came up the other side, finally on the asphalt road. They stopped and waited for Red to drive across the ditch, and then continued on. Dembe was pushing the trees aside in front of them, just enough that both vehicles could follow him through. They came across a section that needed the chainsaw, and once again, he jumped down and began clearing it for them.
And in this small, slow moving convoy, they inched their way down the mountain. They slowly rounded the wide curve to the right, coming to the 'cliffs' on the upper side of the road. They could clearly see the washed out river above and below the cliffs, and debris was piled high on the downward side of the road. It would have been a sheer waterfall while it was raining hard. The amount of debris was slowing even Dembe down, and Ressler parked the van, and climbed down.
"What are you doing?" Liz asked him, knowing the answer to that.
"He needs help, or we'll never get past this." And with that he walked to the tractor.
She watched him grimace as he pulled the second chainsaw down, and then turned her attention back to the two prisoners. Jeremy Cole looked at her now.
"You know the bridge will be gone at the bottom. This is an exercise in futility," he said, and it surprised her. It was the first words she had actually heard him say at all.
"Getting across the river is only one reason we're heading down," she said, and he shook his head and looked away from her.
Red came up and joined Liz, and sat in the drivers seat of the van while Dembe and Ressler worked tirelessly in front of them. He looked pleasantly back through the small doorway to Liev and Jeremy. "I hope you two boys are playing nice back there."
"Put a sock in it, old man," Jeremy told him. Apparently he was over his silent phase, thought Liz.
Ressler dragged the chainsaw down from the tractor, wondering how he was going to do this. Easy, he told himself. Just grit your teeth and do it. And he did. He joined Dembe at a large tree completely blocking their way. Lifting the chainsaw, he started it up and pushed down the pain. Together they made much better progress.
After ten minutes, Ressler placed his chainsaw on the ground and stood up, his upper body trembling and nausea threatening. Gritting his teeth wasn't going to cut it any more. He needed more than that. Reaching into his pocket he looked at the 6 strong pain pills. Without them, he wouldn't be able to continue this. Reluctantly, he shoved one in his mouth, swallowing it down with an effort. He hoped it took effect fast. Giving himself a few minutes while the pill took effect, he walked back to the passenger side of the van.
"Donald. You look like hell," Red greeted him over cheerfully, as he held the gun on their prisoners now. Ressler just looked tiredly up at him.
Liz looked down at him worriedly. "You don't have to do this…" He looked up at her silently, wiping the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve, and then took the bottle of water she handed him. He drank some of it gratefully.
"You got another one in that magic backpack of yours?" he asked, and she handed him one. He nodded his thanks and walked slowly back to the chainsaws. He gave Dembe the second bottle of water, and they took a break for a couple of minutes, before getting back to it.
It took a few minutes, but finally Ressler started to feel that familiar drawing sensation as the pain was seemingly pulled from his nerves by the codeine. Breathing much easier now, he picked up the pace and together they cleared the distance past the cliffs. Dembe jogged back to the tractor, and driving it forward, he pushed aside all the trees they had cut, giving them a clear pathway.
The chainsaws stowed, Red returned to his vehicle and Ressler climbed back in the van. Liz was relieved at how much better he looked. They moved off again, and made fair progress before they came to a stretch that was almost as bad as what they'd gone through at the cliff. Ressler looked across at Liz.
"Here we go again." And he hopped down to join Dembe. Yes, he hopped, thought Liz. Those pain pills were good.
###
They had been clearing this stretch for about 20 minutes. Red was again sitting with Liz in the van, but Liz noticed him looking out the window more.
"What's wrong…?" she asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.
"I'm not sure, but I think…" he didn't finish the sentence and climbed down from the van. Walking to a clearer area that gave some view down the mountain, he stood and looked at the sky. Something was brewing, he could feel it. Walking further down, he was able to see through some of the trees, and saw a long line of clouds. A shelf cloud, stretching almost from horizon to horizon, in the parts he could see. He looked up again, seeing the movement now in the upper parts of the tall pine trees. The wind was getting up, as it was being pushed out in front of that shelf cloud that was heading their way.
He walked briskly over to Ressler and Dembe, who were both busy looking down, chainsaws running.
Red walked around in front of them and got their attention. "Dembe!" He turned his chainsaw off and looked at his boss. Ressler followed suit, and placed his chainsaw on the tree in front of them. The pain pills were wearing off a bit now, and he was glad of the rest.
"We need to take cover!" yelled Red, and Ressler looked around quickly. "What? Why?"
In the van, Liz was growing worried. She stepped out and walked toward the men.
"Look at the trees!" shouted Red, as a sudden wind whipped past them. They all looked up. The top of the tall pine trees that were still standing were being whipped from one side to the other as the wind hit them hard.
"The ground is too wet! They will fall! We need to take cover!" said Red urgently. Ressler had never heard that tone in Red's voice and he listened to it now, looking back at the van. "Not in the vehicles, Donald!"
Cover…where could they take cover… He closed his eyes, remembering. He had studied the map and looked over this mountain on his computer, looking at the lay of the land just as he would a street map in a city. He concentrated, feeling the wind pulling at his clothing now, seeing the road on the mountain, and the features he had seen around it. He heard a loud crash some distance from them. A tree had come down. His eyes sprang open. He knew where they could go now.
"That way!" he yelled at Red and Dembe. "There is a rocky outcrop with an overhang, down there! It will protect us!" He ran toward Liz now, grabbing her arm as she walked toward him.
"Run Liz! Down that way!"
She heard the panic in his voice and had seen the tree come down further behind him.
"Liev and Cole!" she suddenly yelled now, pointing to the van. "We can't leave them in there!"
She was right. The van stood right under the trees, and it would be crushed. Mind you, they could be crushed while running under falling trees. But at least they would know they hadn't left the two men there helplessly.
"Damn it." He turned, motioning to Red, yelling at him over the wind to keep going. Red and Dembe heard him, and kept running in the direction Ressler had given. He turned to the van, and threw open the back doors.
"Okay gentleman, change of plans. And don't try anything!" He quickly uncuffed one wrist off Liev, slipped it out of the chair and recuffed him while Liz held the gun to his head. Ressler didn't uncuff Liev completely, but gave the man a chance to run safely by recuffing his hands in front of him. But they still held a gun on him.
Ressler went to Jeremy and uncuffed the first wrist quickly. But Jeremy was ready for him. He sprang from the chair, punched Ressler hard in the lower left ribs, right where he had shot him, then slammed into Liz, knocking her to the floor. He took off running, flying out the back of the van, leaving the two of them scrambling to find their feet.
Ressler was glad of the residue of the pain pills, or he'd never have got to his feet. He grabbed Liz's arm and hauled her up.
"Leave him! We have to go!"
She looked at him. "We can't let him go!"
"We can't do anything for him! Go!" And he almost shoved her out of the van now.
He didn't have time to argue, as a tree fell very close to the van. Jumping out the back he held his weapon on Liev who was still standing there, looking fearfully up at the swaying trees. Ressler looked up too and his heart leapt. Trees shouldn't move like that. They were moving so hard in the upper winds that they were being pushed straight over, their roots unable to hold in the rain saturated earth. Another crashed to the ground right behind the van, landing on the road near them.
"Oh my God!" screamed Liz, horrified. She looked past the fallen tree, and saw Jeremy Cole running back up the road toward the cabin. He was quickly lost to sight as he headed around a pile of trees on the road.
"Run!" The three of them ran as fast as they could, dreading moving under the trees. If they had any chance at taking cover, it was in that rocky ridge that lay below them. Ressler hoped like hell he'd remembered the map correctly.
Trying to stick to the more open areas, they ran swiftly, their chests heaving. A tree toppled right in front of them and fell straight down. Its root ball lay on the sodden ground, unable to hold the weight up as the upper winds hit it.
Another tree fell beside it, and Ressler looked in horror as more started to come down. Where the hell is that ridge?! They dodged around the upper branches of a downed tree now, and heard another coming down to their left.
Liz screamed, and Ressler turned quickly in her direction and saw the tree coming down, perilously close to them. He grabbed her arm and hauled her, increasing his speed as the tree fell right behind them, its supple upper branches hitting them. She screamed again, terrified.
They could finally see the rocks in the distance now, stretching out along the ridge in front of them. It would shelter them - if they could get there.
Liev was still running in front of him, far more afraid of the falling forest than any gun on him. He ran straight for the ridge, understanding their target now. Red and Dembe were under the overhang, urging them on.
Liz screamed again at the sound of several trees coming down at once now, their weight causing a domino effect. She sucked in air as they hurtled down the incline toward the ridge. More trees were falling, and another came crashing down, narrowly missing her.
She was running right behind Ressler when another tall tree came down, and struck her with the outer branches. They were supple and gave way around her as she ran, dodging her way through them. Another three trees toppled together off to their left. She looked at them in horror as they fell straight down together, crashing onto the ground. She screamed again.
And froze completely.
He heard Liz scream right behind him, and suddenly saw Dembe come out from under the over hang, charging up toward them. He looked back and saw Liz just standing there. He spun back to her.
"Liz! You have to move! Move it!"
She was wide eyed, and shaking. Screaming. She couldn't move.
Ressler looked up in horror as a tree fell right toward them. He grabbed her, literally picked her up and held her, his lower ribs finally giving way as he did so. He flung her to the ground away from the tree as both of them rolled out the way, narrowly missing being crushed under the falling tree.
They were on the ground. He was struggling to get up when Dembe reached them.
"Take her! Take her!" Ressler yelled at him, finding his feet now.
Dembe swooped her up, and held her as she buried her face in him. He looked at Ressler, who yelled at him above the wind.
"Go!"
Dembe did. He ran with Liz in his arms, narrowly escaping another tree that crashed down in his path. He swerved, still holding her and kept on running.
Ressler was on his feet again, sprinting. His left side was on fire. But far better risking a punctured lung than crushed under a tree. He forced himself onward. Two trees toppled together, dragging each other down and fell right beside him. He could see the ridge. He was almost there.
Dembe reached the safety of the ridge and skidded to a stop under the overhang. Dropping to his knees, he gently laid Liz on the ground. Red reached down to her, crouching down beside her as she lay there wide eyed and shaking.
Ressler scrambled out of the way of another falling tree, its outer branches hitting him as it fell. He was clear now. No more trees and the ridge was right in front of him. He ran under it, slamming into the back and fell to his knees panting. He closed his eyes, slipping down to a sitting position, the rocky wall behind him.
"Donald! Are you hurt?"
Of course I'm hurt. I'm always hurt. He opened his eyes now, and ignored Red.
Looking out from under the overhanging rock, the trees were dropping fast now as the wind whipped up to a fury. Dozens of them now, falling into each other, causing a cascade effect. If they had taken any longer to get here…he knew they would not have survived.
A tree suddenly fell on the ridge, leaning down over the opening. More trees fell around them, falling like matchsticks. Tree trunks lined the ridge. But they were safe under it. The rocks protected them.
Leaning down, or falling down, he wasn't sure which, he lay beside Liz, looking at her intently.
"Liz!" he reached his hand to her face, cupping her cheek.
"What's wrong with her?!" he turned back to Red.
"Her body shut down when it couldn't cope with the fear," Red said worriedly.
Ressler turned back to her, feeling her shaking under his hand. "Can she be moved?"
"She needs to be held and made to feel safe Donald. I believe that can be achieved, don't you?" Red said to him, crouching down to him now, looking at him pointedly.
Ressler nodded, and sat back again, grimacing at the pain in his lower ribs again. Trembling with the pain across his middle, he got himself supported against a smoother area on the rocks. Dembe then lifted Liz, and half sat her on Ressler's lap. He held her now, sitting on the ground with his arms around her, cradling her close to him. Dropping his hand quickly to his pocket, he dragged out the pill packet with one shaking hand. He held it to Red.
"I need one of these," he said breathlessly. Red complied and popped a pill out for him. He opened Liz's backpack and took out the last bottle of water. He handed both to Ressler who was now visibly shaking from the pain. He quickly swallowed the pill, and put the remaining 4 in his pocket. Closing his eyes against the pain, he leaned his head forward, resting his chin on Liz's hair, and wrapped his arms around her.
###
Ressler hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep until he woke with a start. Leaning back against the wall, still holding Liz, he remembered where he was. Red was sitting beside him, also leaning against the smoother rocks at their backs. Dembe and Liev were a few feet away on the other side. Dembe had taken back his position of prison guard, apparently.
The effect of the pain pills was keeping Ressler's pain level at bay for now. He dropped his head to look down at Liz. She seemed to be asleep too. He looked sideways at Red, who regarded him calmly.
"She'll be okay. She fell asleep right after you did," he said, looking into her face. "Just keep holding her and let her wake up on her own," he said softly beside him.
He nodded, and his gaze then landed on the scene outside the overhanging rocks again. He'd never seen anything like it. Trees were lying on their sides all over the ridge in front of him, and blocking a lot of his view. Yet many were still standing, the trees that weren't as tall, he noticed.
Aware of not wanting to wake Liz, he kept his voice low. "What the hell was that?" he hissed at Red.
"A derecho." Said Red.
"A what…?"
"Straight line winds that precede thunderstorms. You missed the actual thunderstorm. It passed over very quickly after the winds died down," Red informed him.
"We have to get back through all those trees to get back to the road…" said Ressler, not looking forward to that.
"Yes and no. I've been looking at it, and look over there to your right." Ressler followed where he was pointing, and saw a narrow strip of land that had no trees, standing or toppled, on it.
"That's a ski run…I didn't see that on the map I studied."
"No? Well, I for one am glad you studied that map at all Donald, and knew this ridge was here."
Ressler felt Liz move on his lap, and then heard a sleepy voice from her. "Will you two please be quiet…I'm tryin' to sleep here…"
Red smiled then, looking at Ressler. "See, she's fine."
Ressler shifted a little under her weight, stopping as his ribs hurt him.
"Oh, and Donald?" Red asked him, looking at him again. "Where is Jeremy Cole?"
Ressler looked out at the downed trees, and shook his head. He had no idea how any one would survive the brunt of that storm.
"I don't think we have to worry about him anymore." He said, hoping he was right.